Local para-athlete Emma Dieters has embraced the most challenging time of her life and become a role model in perseverance and courage.
“Live the moment” and “embrace change” are the phrases that fuel Emma Dieters’ passion for the water and an active lifestyle. Words that helped her to face the hardest challenge of her life when, in 2021, surgery to alleviate the pain from a bulging disc didn’t go to plan and Emma became a quadriplegic.
“Life is about changes and the best way to navigate them is with a wide-open heart. That was the lesson I learnt after the surgery. I had to accept my new reality, dealing with what was in front of me right there and then,” Emma says.
Growing up in Avalon, Emma was always involved in outdoor activities and sports, a lifestyle she shares with her family and friends. To her, the change was radical. She was classified as C4 ASIA D Quadriplegic and now must use either a wheelchair or crutches for assistance.
Even in the face of such change, Emma says she knew she could overcome anything for her family.
“I don’t know if I was not understanding or in denial, but I just thought, ‘I will get through this’. I’m always in the present, and I was just trying to keep in the moment, so I didn’t feel all the emotions that come with realising that I wasn’t going to be having my normal life back,” she says.
Emma competing at the Australian Para Surf Championships in Bonny Hills NSW, just 18 months post-surgery.
Emma found strength in her family, friends, and the Northern Beaches community, which allowed the almost 41-year-old mother-of-two to see her new life as an opportunity to grow and to set an example of optimism and perseverance.
During her rehabilitation process at the Beachside Rehab Unit at Mona Vale Hospital, she met Sam Bloom, two-time world para-surfing champion, who invited Emma to go back to the waves.
“She lent me a board and, once I’d got the ‘all clear’ from my surgeon, I went out (to surf) a few times. I had a crack and I felt alive again!” Emma says.
Emma was a runner-up in the final of the PS Prone 2 at the Australian Para Surf Championships.
Soon after, in August 2022, Emma found herself surfing in the Australian Surf Championships in the Prone 2 Division.
“It was fun and an opportunity to really showcase to the kids that you never know what could happen, but if you embrace change with an open heart, everything is an opportunity to achieve your goals,” she adds.
Today, Emma is a Volcom ambassador; an entrepreneur with her own clothing brand, called Life Flipped Collective; and was recently crowned World Champion at the 2022 Pismo Beach ISA World Para Surfing Championship, as part of the Australian team.
In her first global competition, she got the gold and made history by setting a new record with her 17.83 heat total in Women’s Prone 2. But to her, the true value of the win was within.
“When I went in for the surgery to fix my debilitating neck pain, my goal was to get back in the water and surfing with the family after many years out of the water. So, getting gold means more than just coming first. It means I have achieved my goal in showing my kids that even when adversity happens, you don’t let it beat you. Just achieve your goals in any way possible!”
By Paula V. Arenas Santa Maria